Jovic will prove Real Madrid doubters wrong, says former coach

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Former Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac believes Luka Jovic will return to Real Madrid and prove to be an excellent signing in the long run. 

Jovic played under Kovac at Frankfurt for one year before the Croatian head coach made the move to Bayern Munich. 

The Serbian international then departed the Bundesliga side too one year later, when he made the move to Real Madrid in a transfer worth €60 million, after signing a six-year contract with the Spanish club. 

However, Jovic’s time in Spain hasn’t exactly gone to plan and over the course of an 18-month spell the forward made just 32 appearances for Zinedine Zidane’s side. 

Such was Jovic’s struggles in Spain that the Serbian forward decided to return to Frankfurt on loan in January. 

However, contrary to reports that suggest he could make his return to German permanent, Kovac thinks his former player has all the attributes to succeed at Madrid in the long run and will eventually prove his doubters wrong. 

“I met him in 2019 on the trip to the USA with Bayern,” said the Croatian coach when asked by Sport1 about the last time he spoke to Jovic. “We won 3-1 against Real Madrid there and I had an exchange with him.

“I have said before that Luka is a great player who will join a big club if he develops well. That’s what he did and he moved to Real Madrid. 

“But he is still young. The fact that he didn’t hit the ground running at Real as he imagined can happen. Luka will come back to Real, get his chance and use it.”

Whether Jovic is offered the chance to rebuild his career at Madrid may come down to whether Zidane remains at the club but for now he seems happy trying to prove himself at his former club.